CMI-NASI Online Outreach Lectures for Schools, September–November, 2020
- The
Periodic Table — A Masterpiece in Systematization
Dr. K Viswanathan
In the early stages of our education, Chemistry is often
perceived as a subject where one just needs to memorize a
large number of formulae and chemical reactions. In
reality, there is an enormous amount of rational thinking
that is brought in to explain the properties, reactivity
and behaviour of molecules. The evolution of the periodic
table is a classic example where Mendeleev attempted, and
successfully too, to discern a method in all the madness in
Chemistry. Mendeleev first presented his version of the
periodic table in 1869 to the Russian Chemical Society.
Last year, 2019, was celebrated as the International Year
of the Periodic Table to commemorate 150 years since the
discovery of the periodic table. We will trace the work of
Mendeleev and follow it up with the developments that
helped in our understanding of the atomic structure, which
eventually rationalized the periodic table.
-
Clean Water
Prof. Rama S Verma, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras
Water is one of the constituents of life on earth. In our
body 60% is water of total weight. Water is essential for
life as it involves in various important functions in our
body. Drinking clean water is essential and important as it
helps to replenish the daily loss of water through natural
means such as urination, perspiration and motion. Water is
available in the planet in various forms such as the
crystal water as ice and glaciers, liquid water as in ponds
and rivers. Water is also available beneath the earth,
which can be available by digging the well and bore
well. Water can be stored in natural forms (ponds, lakes)
and artificial forms (dams). It is also used for
irrigation, which provides nutrition to plants and in
cultivation of the crops. We need to drink water daily as
it helps to avoid us from getting dehydrated. The stagnant
water, river and well water can be contaminated by
bacteria, virus and other microorganism as water is a
natural habitat for these organisms. When we drink this
contaminated water, we get sick and develop various
illness. So for a healthy life, we need to drink clean
water. There are various ways by which we can clean the
contaminated water. One of the simplest technology is
boiling the contaminated water that can be used as source
for clean water. Heating or boiling of water kills most of
the bacteria and inactivates the microorganisms. This is a
very important practice which has been documented since
ancient time. Previously the amount of contaminated water
was less and availability of pure water was more and we
were able to drink the flowing water from river and
mountain water and glaciers directly. In the last century,
water is getting contaminated due to various reasons such
as industrialization and increased pollution. So there is a
need for newer technology to clean the contaminated
water. The silica based filters were used earlier to remove
smell and absorb small particles and bacteria. Last two
decades the reverse osmosis technology has been developed
to clean the water. In my presentation I will highlight
these points in detail to understand the importance of
clean water for healthy life. If we are healthy our nation
is also healthy.
- Logical Reasoning through
Puzzles
Dr. C Aiswarya, Chennai Mathematical Institute
We will see some logic puzzles. We will solve them. We
will analyze our reasoning that allowed us to arrive at a
conclusion. We will admire the little logicians in us.
-
Euler's Polyhedron Theorem and Some Applications
Dr. Shailesh Shirali, Director, Sahyadri School (KFI), Pune
Euler's theorem for convex polyhedra, V - E + F = 2, is
well known. In this brief talk, we shall describe a less
known result first found by Rene Descartes which is closely
related to Euler's theorem. We shall also talk about some
non-obvious applications of Euler's theorem.
- Searching for Beauty: Finding one in a
Billion with the CMS Experiment at the Large Hadron
Collider
Prof Jim Libby, IIT Madras
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) was one of two experiments that discovered
the long sought Higgs Boson. The LHC is the premier
particle accelerator in the world and is situated at
European centre for particle physics at CERN in Geneva,
Switzerland. The LHC and CMS are still operating and will
do so in upgraded form well into the 2030s. In this talk I
will review the discovery of the Higgs boson before
discussing one of the many other measurements that CMS is
pursuing. This relates to a rare process involving the
so-called beauty quark. No advanced knowledge of particle
physics is assumed.
- The
Sound of Music
Dr. Sushan Konar, Former Scientist, NCRA Pune
Human beings are the only living creatures who are capable
of creating long, coherent, and pleasing pieces of sound
— ordinarily called 'music'. This capability arises
from a unique interaction between the laws of physics and
the special characteristics of our auditory system. In this
talk, we look at this interaction and see how some of our
familiar musical structures have come about, with a special
reference to Indian classical music.
- Bioplastics
Prof. Rama S Verma, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras
Plastic production and pollution are also fueling climate
change. Globally, up to 12.7 million tons of plastic waste
ends up in the water bodies every year. Ingestion of
plastics by different animals is one of the leading causes
of ecological diversity loss. The dawn of plastic use has
immensely affected each and every aspect of human lives. To
reduce plastic pollution different strategies gave been
employed one such strategy is Bioplastic
production. Bioplastic is a bio-based plastic which is
biodegradable source in nature. Bioplastic can act as
substitute for the plastic as it can be easily digested by
different microorganisms thus help us regenerate fossil
resources. Since with the introduction of every novel
technology comes some consequences. Thus, here in this
paper we are discussing one such issue: different
approaches to degrade bioplastic. A mechanical method which
generally talks about the different technologies or tools
involved in biodegradation of Bioplastic as well as
biological method which deals with the different microbial
species involved in the process.
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